


In Your Shoes

by Rosepan



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Body Swap, Confessions, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Making Out, Masturbation, Suppressed Feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-07-30 15:26:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20099431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosepan/pseuds/Rosepan
Summary: Merlin helps Gaius clean up his workplace. In that process they find a book on magic that Gaius had forgotten he owned. Merlin is glad to have a book to add to his collection and to expand his knowledge - but the results of studying some new magic, aren't exactly what Merlin was expecting...In which Merlin accidentily causes him and Arthur to swap bodies.





	1. Merlin

**Author's Note:**

> Haven't written a fanfic in a long while.. but just rewatched Merlin and was so inspired by their awesome bromance... that I just had to develop their relationship further ;)
> 
> Taggs will be added as the story progresses
> 
> Each chapter is titled with the named of whose perspective it is set in.

****After Gaius had spent a whole day searching his room for one of his old books on herbs and their usefulness and still hadn’t found it, he had asked Merlin to help him tidy up the workplace the following day. In that process, a lot of other books and old research papers of Gaius’, that he had forgotten he even owned, had shown up as well.

“Ah… I had forgotten about this one” Gaius said when he stumbled upon a particular book of his. 

“Come take a look at this, Merlin” he continued, holding the book out for Merlin to take. Merlin took the book from Gaius, disinterested and tired from all the tidying, but once he took a look at the cover, his eyes lit up in excitement.

“I thought you said that you didn’t have any more books on magic, besides the ones you have already given me?” Merlin said as he began to look through the book, his mood lifting and his tiredness visually seeming to disappear. 

“I thought that I had given you all the books I owned on magic, but I must have forgotten about this one. It’s not a book full of important and lifesaving spells, so that must be why I forgot it even existed” Gaius explained.

“What kind of spells are in the book then… if they aren’t important?” Merlin asked, not having read the full title of the book, at least not beyond the fact that it said magic on the cover. Which is why Gaius asked him to read it out loud.

“‘_ A Collection of Magical spells: Trick Your Friends and Confuse Your Enemies’. _ What a weird title” Merlin said, looking at Gaius in confusion. 

“Ah!” Gaius exclaimed smiling, “it was a gift, from the author, back when magic was legal. He was a funny man, that Billius, he wasn’t well respected though, as he only ever used his magic for fun and trickery, but a kind hearted soul he was and well liked among friends” Gaius told Merlin. 

“So, the spells in this book are only for fun?” Merlin asked, to which Gaius nodded. 

“Who has time to only use their magic for fun…” Merlin mumbled under his breath, thinking of how he, when he wasn’t helping Gaius, was ‘forced’ to run around after Authur.

“When magic was legal, some of those with magic only used it to entertain, and could live off of that. Those who chose to use their magic like that was loved by the people and looked down upon by their fellow sorcerous, who believed that they were wasting their talents. But, it was simply a profession like any other, in my opinion”.

“Can I have this…?” Merlin asked offhandedly with his nose already buried in the book, clearly not listening to Gaius anymore, now that he had new material on magic to study. Gaius just chuckled and agreed to Merlin's request, simply happy to see Merlin so interested in learning more magic - even if it was only a book on trickery. 

Merlin had gotten the whole afternoon off, because of Gaius' request to Arthur for Merlin’s assistance, and after having found the book that Gaius was looking for, Merlin had had too clean up alone, due to Gaius having patients to see to. Exhausted and out of breath Merlin had somehow managed to finish cleaning and tidying up before it was time for him to collect Arthur’s dinner, so he hurried back to his room to study his new book for as long as he could.

There were many small spells that he already knew - like making butterflies appear, making things hover, and conjuring up flowers, fire, water, and so on. But there were also many spells he had never seen and ways in which he would never have thought of using his magic. Like a spell for changing ones, or others’, hair colour, or a spell for swapping clothes (the author had added suggestions to all of his spells, suggesting making a man and a woman swap their clothing - just to see them panic), and then there was a spell for swapping bodies. That spell Merlin thought sounded more cruel and dangerous than a fun trick to pull. Imagine how scared you would be if you suddenly found yourself in someone else's body. Merlin put the book away after reading about that spell, feeling that he had read enough for one day about pure trickery. Looking out his window he suddenly felt a knot in his stomach… it had gotten dark outside and Merlin must have lost track of time. As Gaius was out seeing to his patients, Merlin was supposed to have kept an eye and the time himself, but now he was going to be late with Arthur's dinner. 

Merlin jumped out of bed and sprinted all the way to the kitchen, the cook and the kitchen maids looked up in surprise as Merlin came almost tumbling through the door to the kitchen, but upon seeing that it was only Merlin they all returned to their work, like it was nothing. The cook, though, looked at Merlin with a stern look in her eyes.

“You’re late!” She said and shoved a plate of food into Merlin’s ribcage, Merlin let out a noise of pain as the air was knocked out of him, and only just managed to grab the plate in time as she let it go. Merlin set off in the direction of Arthur’s chambers without a word - too late to worry about politeness or the pain of getting a plate jammed into one's ribs. He swung the door open and marched into Arthur’s room, once he reached his destination, in such a hurry he forgot all about knocking (not that he remembered that on a daily basis anyways).

The door banged against the wall, and due to the force with which Merlin had opened it, came swinging right back. Merlin was already in the room by the time the door swung shut again, having practically been running into the room so quickly, so he luckily wasn’t hit by the door, however the sheer volume of the door shutting behind him, and the fact that he was late, made Merlin wish he was at the other side of that door right now - now that he saw the look on Arthur’s face. 

“Merlin! How good of you to show up. I’m sorry to be such an inconvenience in what must be a very busy schedule of yours…” Arthur began, his voice dripping with sarcasm; he continued “tell me... what was so important that you couldn't bring me my dinner on time?” He finished, staring at Merlin with murderous eyes. 

“I… I’m sorry sire. I just…” Merlin had no excuse, as he couldn’t tell Arthur that he had lost track of time studying _ magic _ \- so instead he just trailed off and said nothing really. 

“You just, what?”Arthur asked calmly, his eyes now burning into Merlin’s skull, as Merlin placed his dinner in front of him.

“I lost track of time. I have no excuse” Merlin said, his head bowed and eyes downcast, not daring to look at Arthur. His voice may be calm, but Merlin knew Arthur well enough by now to be able to read his body language, and pick up on the strain he had in his voice - a strain that meant that Arthur was holding back serious anger. Merlin knew that Arthur could have a bit of a temper, to put it mildly, and as he was late Arthur was in his full right to be angry with him. Yet, it felt like there was more to it. Arthur would normally yell at him immediately for being late, and not hold back like this, pretending that he wasn’t angry with him. 

But Merlin didn’t have time to wonder why Arthur seemed to be in a fouler mood than usual and if he was, wonder what was causing it, as Arthur suddenly grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, dragging him down to face him, forcing Merlin to look Arthur in the eyes.

“I have had a very _ long _ and very _ hard _day, Merlin! And you have had all afternoon off! So the least you could do is bring me my dinner ON TIME!” Arthur sneered and let go of Merlin’s collar again, as he shouted that last part. 

“Yes, sire! I’m sorry, sire!” Merlin said quickly straightening up. However, he couldn’t help wanting to shout back that he hadn’t had the afternoon off to lounge around, but he wisely held his tongue. Instead he poured Arthur some wine, and started preparing for bedtime as quickly and quietly as he could. Arthur ate his food in silence, but Merlin could feel the tension in the room - he was still very angry. Thus Merlin stayed away from trying to lighten the mood as he usually would have, and instead stood silently behind Arthur once he had finished the bed preparations, and waited for Arthur to finish his food. 

Standing there watching Arthur eat, he suddenly realised that he hadn’t had any dinner yet, he would usually eat before Arthur, and as he had been so busy cleaning up the workplace for Gaius, Merlin became painfully aware that he had forgotten to eat lunch as well. At that moment his stomach suddenly made the loudest rumble, his hand shot up to cover his belly as if that could muffle the sound, but obviously it didn't do anything. Instead his stomach continued to rumble on and off with just a few seconds of silence in between.

"God, Merlin... Not even your stomach will let me eat in peace" Arthur sneered under his breath. 

"Sorry. I forgot to eat" Merlin explained, wishing his stomach would stop growling before it pissed off Arthur enough to start giving him ridiculous tasks to perform the following day - something Merlin had experienced one too many times before to know that, that was something Arthur could think of doing, when he was in this kind of a mood. 

Sure enough, by the time Merlin was undressing Arthur, to ready him for bed, Arthur's last nerve was hit - due to Merlin being late, and now his stomach being noisy - and he started listing all the things he claimed Merlin had been neglecting and ordered him to do them tomorrow. Things like cleaning Arthur's clothes (all of which Merlin cleaned yesterday), cleaning Arthur's room and washing the floors (Merlin also just did that the other day), cleaning out the stables, and so on. Merlin had half a mind to object to Arthur's demands, but as Merlin hadn't spent the day with him, he knew he had no means of reference to use to persuade Arthur to see sense - had no idea why Arthur was in such a bad mood. So instead he was forced to agree and just finish up as fast as he could before Arthur thought of more for him to do.

* * *

Merlin spent the next day performing all of the chores that Arthur had given him, doing everything as fast as he could so as to manage them all. He had managed to hear from Gwaine why Arthur had been in such a bad mood yesterday. It had been caused by a series of events - first there had been two young guys, currently training under Arthur to become Camelot knights, getting into a fight. That had spurred Arthurs’ bad mood from the morning on. From there things like Arthur struggling with getting in and out of his training gear, to tools for training not being where they were supposed to be, till Arthur losing a match, due to his mood distracting him from paying full attention during training, and so on. Arthur was a sore loser in general, but losing a match on top of everything else that had happened that day, had been the reason for the foul mood that Merlin had found him in. Still, Merlin felt annoyed and slightly angry at Arthur for taking it out on him, by making him run around like crazy and working his hands raw from performing the chores that Arthur had given him, instead of reacting like a responsible adult that would make oneself calm down - or at least direct ones anger at the right target.

Merlin's patience with Arthur was therefore already wearing thin even before he had to face Arthur, that evening, after he had finished all his chores. No matter what mood Arthur was in. Merlin knew this much, when he entered Arthur’s chambers, but as Arthur’s manservant he didn’t have the luxury of pretending he was sick, or get someone to cover his shift - no as Arthur’s manservant it was only Gaius that seldomly could get Merlin a few hours off, and that was only when Gaius needed his assistant more than Arthur.

Merlin was exhausted… so exhausted and so, so tired as he entered the room with Arthur’s dinner.

It therefore didn’t help Merlin's mood that he was met by an Arthur, that evening, who thought that Merlin ought to thank him for being such a merciful Prince, who, instead of throwing Merlin in the stocks, simply just gave him a 'few' extra tasks to perform. Merlin wanted to verbally bite off Arthur's head then and there, but having been Arthur's manservant for a few years now, he knew better and had mastered much better self control.

"Yes, that is lucky for me," Merlin said stiffly instead, setting the dinner plate in front of Arthur. 

Arthur was in a much better mood today, and he was therefore also in the mood to mess with Merlin. 

By the time Arthur was getting into bed Merlin's patience was threatening to break. All he wanted was to go to bed himself, yet Arthur wasn't done messing with him.

"I heard that King Hengist punishes his servants by hanging them by their thumbs in the dungeons for a night or two, when they are disobedient... Maybe we should instate such a method when I become King" Arthur said with that gleam in his eyes that he gets when he wishes for a strong response from Merlin. Merlin turned his back to Arthur and began to clean up after Arthur’s dinner, hoping he didn’t have to respond to that. But Arthur thought differently;

“What do you think of that idea?” he said, when Merlin hadn’t responded on his own.

"Probably wouldn't be that popular among the people" Merlin therefore responded reluctantly, too tired to play along. Arthur grabbed a goblet from his nightstand and threw it at Merlin, whose back was still turned to the bed. He therefore didn't see it coming, but he sure did feel it.

“Ow” Merlin let out, turning around to stare angrily at Arthur.

"It was a joke… I was being funny, Merlin! Have a sense of humour!" Arthur said, sounding more and more back to his usual self. 

Merlin rubbed the back of his head in pain, as he picked up the goblet to bring it back to Arthur.

“I realise that. Just really tired” Merlin said, hoping Arthur would miraculously respect that and get off his back. He handed the goblet to Arthur but he grabbed on to Merlin’s wrist instead. 

“I’m tired too. But that doesn’t cause me to lose my sense of humor! Smile a little will you” Arthur said, and pulled Merlin closer to the bed, to get a better look at him it would seem.

Once Merlin had forced a fake smile, Arthur finally let go of his wrist. When doing so, Arthur let his fingers slide slowly down over Merlin’s hand and softly brushed his fingers, before he grabbed the goblet that Merlin was still holding. It happened so quickly that Merlin’s brain didn’t register that it actually had happened until Merlin was walking along the corridors on his way to his room. He felt a strange tingle in his right hand and down his fingers, as he registered the action. He realized that Arthur hadn’t ever touched him in such a tender way before, and therefore brushed off the tingling sensation as merely being due to this fact. He quickly went back to being angry at Arthur, after that, for not understanding or respecting how tired he was today.

While getting ready for bed Merlin couldn’t help but think of how Arthur was able to act whichever way he pleased, lounge around almost whenever he wanted, and treat Merlin however he wished, which made Merlin’s annoyance with Arthur grow. Usually Merlin wouldn’t be this bothered. He understood how the world worked and had accepted his lot in life - but with every muscle in his body aching, and his head spinning with fatigue - he couldn’t help wishing that he could get to spend just a few hours or so in Arthur’s place, ordering him around and having to do nothing - how wonderful that would be.

Merlin remembered, as he crawled under the covers on his bed, that there actually did exist a spell which would allow him to swap body with Arthur. He laughed to himself as he couldn’t help playing with the idea of actually using that spell and for that purpose. Nevertheless, he knew how risky it would be to do something like that. Not only would he have to deal with Arthur occupying his body - and how weird that would be - but it would therefore also mean that Arthur would be aware of the swap and would no doubt have some serious questions and concerns about it, which Merlin wasn't prepared to deal with. Thus, he wouldn’t be free to actually enjoy playing the crown Prince for a bit.

Merlin went to sleep happily imagining a version of that spell in which he could be Arthur for a day, but without Arthur being aware of it. 

* * *

Just as he was drifting off to sleep, unbeknownst to himself, his eyes flashed golden and his soul slipped out of his body in search of swapping place with someone else's…


	2. Arthur

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur wakes to find that he isn't in his own bed... That he isn't wearing his own clothes and that he isn't even himself anymore!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had the next chapter lined up... only needed an extra read through... but the third chapter is still being written. I'll update as soon as I can~

Throwing a few pillows on the floor, to get more comfortable, Arthur watched as Merlin collected the plates from dinner, and then leaving his chambers with a quiet ‘ _ Goodnight sire _ ’.

He couldn’t help thinking of the way he had let his fingers ghost over Merlin’s hand before. ‘ _ Why did I do that?’ _ Arthur thought to himself, recalling how it had made his skin tingle at the touch. Arthur knew that he had a soft spot for Merlin. That he favored his company and that he loved teasing him. However, the fluttering feeling that took place in his chest and stomach whenever Merlin smiled at him (just for him), was a fact Arthur - more or less knowingly - strongly ignored. So why did he have to go and touch Merlin so tenderly…. He couldn't answer that question, even if he wanted to, as he wasn't even sure himself what had made him do something like that. Upon realizing how out of place it was for him, to touch Merlin in that way, he had quickly grabbed the goblet that Merlin was holding out for him, to cover it up as his intention to simply take said goblet all along.

Arthur shook his head, as if that would make the memory of the incidence fall right out of his mind. To distract himself he instead thought of the way he had acted yesterday. He knew he had let his temper get the better of him that evening, and he knew that Merlin was mad at him for it. Nevertheless, Arthur had been too proud to admit that he had handled the situation childishly and he was too proud to apologize for it. Arthur had hoped that joking around with Merlin instead would have put them back to their usual selves. But he had to accept that Merlin had been too tired and too angry with him to play along, this time. He made a mental note to himself to let Merlin get an early night the following day. It was Arthur’s rare day off tomorrow anyways, so he might as well let Merlin get something out of that as well.

Arthur turned over in bed and let himself drift off to sleep.

* * *

The sun was shining in his face, it made him squint his already shut eyes even more closed... He tried to turn over to get the sun out of his face and noticed that he was incredibly stiff and sore all over. The bed felt hard and unfamiliar. Arthur slowly peeked one eye open and in his tired mind couldn’t recognize his surroundings. He closed his one eye again and stretched his body. Rubbing his eyes he slowly opened them again and then jumped up right in less than one second. He wasn’t in his own bed or in his own room even. His heart pounded at that realization but quickly calmed down again as he recognized that he was still in Camelot. More specifically he was in Merlin’s bedroom. Wait! He was in Merlin’s bedroom. ‘ _ What the fuck am I doing in Merlin’s bed!?’  _ Arthur screamed internally. He pulled the covers off and realized that not only was he in Merlin’s bedroom, in Merlin’s bed, but he was also wearing Merlin’s clothes. 

Arthur’s head was spinning. He couldn’t for the life of him figure out why he wasn’t in his own bed, why he was wearing Merlin’s clothes or how he had gotten there. He hadn’t been drinking last night and he knew he had gone to bed in his own chambers. Arthur grabbed at his hair, and rubbed his skull, trying to remember how he had ended up in Merlin’s bed - but he just couldn’t. He had to ask Merlin. He got up looking around the room for his own clothes - he figured that Merlin had had to change him out of them in his bedroom, but his clothes were nowhere to be seen. Straightening up he caught a glimpse of blackish hair out the corner of his eye near the door and turned to ask Merlin how the hell he had ended up here.

Instead Arthur let out a terrified scream while jumping backwards. This caused him to collide with the bed, tumbling over it and somehow landing on the floor on the other side of it. Arthur couldn’t believe, that what he had seen could be real… he slowly crawled up over the bed to have another look. Sure enough… No one was standing by the door. Instead there was a mirror on the wall, and within it, it wasn’t Arthur’s face staring back at him.

Arthur lifted his hand to touch his face, to pull at his hair and to test that he wasn’t hallucinating. Arthur stared and stared at his face in the mirror, but it wasn’t his face staring back - it was Merlins’.

It was Merlin’s eyes staring back at him, Merlin’s blackish hair that he was pulling at and it was Merlin’s lips that parted and let out the noise of yet another startled scream. 

Arthur was grabbing at ‘his’ arms and ‘his’ torso rather roughly to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, and as he established that he was in fact awake, he suddenly felt weird touching Merlin’s body so intensely. He stopped moving his hands up and down Merlin’s torso - ‘his’ torso - and went back to simply staring into the mirror in disbelieve. Arthur was so confused and quite anxious - he didn’t know what to do. Then a thought entered his mind - if he was in Merlin’s body, then where was Merlin. Could he be in Arthur’s body?

Arthur grabbed Merlin’s jacket and pulled on Merlin’s shoes before running out of the bedroom. He was in such a hurry that he barely registered that Gaius was yelling after him, something about breakfast, but Arthur was out the door running in the direction of his chambers before he even had a chance to think of responding. 

He flung the door open and stormed in. 

His body was still in bed, his head buried in pillows and facing away from the door. Arthur felt like he was dead and his soul was watching his lifeless body on the bed… he approached the bed slowly and cautiously - it wasn’t until his body stirred that he realized that he had been holding his breath in. As he breathed out he realised that he, until that moment, had feared that he actually had been dead and that his soul, by some freak accident, had ended up in Merlin’s body. But, if his body wasn’t a lifeless corpse, then, in his logic (if there could be logic to this situation), Merlin’s soul must be occupying his body.

Arthur poked his body’s shoulder, once, twice, three times, but  _ it  _ still didn’t wake. Arthur was still slightly scared that it wasn’t Merlin sleeping in his bed, within his body. But, he had to find out, so he took a deep breath and grabbed onto his body’s shoulder and shook it more violently than he would normally do to wake someone up.

“Ah, Gaius come on… just five more minutes. It’s Arthur’s day off” a grogerly voice said in response.

Arthur felt better, now that he knew that it definitely was Merlin who was  _ in there _ .

“Merlin! It’s me, Arthur. You better wake up. Something very strange has happened” Arthur said, not recognizing his own voice… well it wasn’t his own voice, it was Merlin’s, so…

“Arthur…? What’s the matt… Wahhh!” Merlin yelled and flew back in shock and horror once he had turned and opened his eyes.

“Wha… What… What the fuck! How - how… What in the...” Merlin kept sputtering out incoherently upon finding himself staring --- at himself.

“I know!” Arthur said, and sat down on the edge of the bed, as his head was spinning again. Merlin was now staring down at his, or rather at Arthur’s body. He started doing the same thing Arthur had done - grabbing at his arms and at his torso. It was bizarre, watching  _ 'himself'  _ touching his own body, and upon thinking that it was actually Merlin touching his pecs, his ribs, his stomach, hands continuing to slide further downwards...

“**Oi…** Merlin!” Arthur exclaimed in slight panik, as Merlin’s hands wandered lower. If it wasn’t confusing enough finding himself in Merlin’s body, the thought of Merlin, touching Arthur_,_ or rather touching ‘_himself_’, while being **_in_** Arthur’s body --- it was just too much. 

“What the hell is going on?” Arthur asked, as Merlin let his hands fall away from touching all over ‘his’ torso. Something sparked in Merlin’s eyes and within seconds his expression went from looking like he knew what had happened, to something that might resemble embarrassment. 

“Well…” Arthur looked at him with hope. If Merlin had an idea as to what had happened, then perhaps he also had an idea as to have to make things go back to normal again. 

“I… Uh, well… It, it has to be magic” Merlin said, looking incredibly uncomfortable, maybe even scared. But probably no more scared than he was himself, finding himself in someone else's body. 

“Magic you say… no shit Merlin. Of course it’s magic. But why?” Arthur said. At that, Merlin looked a little relieved somehow. However, Arthur couldn’t figure out why, or why Merlin wasn’t more freaked out or asking the same kind of questions he was. To be fare though, Arthur had only just woken him up, but still.

“Why… well I, I have no idea” Merlin said sitting up a little more straight now. He looked as though he was seriously questioning it now, so Arthur kept quiet. In the past, whenever Arthur found himself in strange and weird situations, often those involving magic, Merlin always seemed to have some kind of strange, yet logical, explanation to everything, so Arthur thought it best to let Merlin think about it and not interrupt him.

“Perhaps… perhaps the sorcerer who did this, did it to let you feel what it’s like to be a servant instead of a prince? And once you have experienced it, we will return to our own bodies...” Merlin suggested looking both nervous and worried, perhaps at what Arthur’s reaction to this suggestion would be. Yet, somehow it also seemed as though Merlin was slightly hopeful.

“Now, that’s ridiculous. Why would a powerful sorcerer use their powers simply to give me a day in the life of a servants’ - and then a lazy servant’s life, no less” Arthur said crossing his arms, even the notion of such a suggestion seeming too ridiculous to be true.

“Well… maybe because of that exact response… You think I’m lazy, and useless and have no skills. But how would you know - you’ve never had to do the things I do and-” Arthur cut him off:

“Now hold on a minute! Just because you’re in my body, doesn’t give you the right to talk to me like that Merlin! I’m still your prince… even though I’m trapped in your body, at this moment. Besides, I don’t think you’re lazy, I know you are. And if I  _ did _ have to do your chores, I could do them in half the time” Arthur said with his usual arrogance.

“Fine, then you can begin by making the bed while I get dressed” Merlin said, sounding slightly annoyed with him, as he got out of bed and walking behind the screen next to the wardrobe, to put on Arthur’s clothes.

“Like hell I am, that’s your job!” Arthur said to the screen. “And now we’re at it, you shouldn’t be getting dressed in my clothes. Instead you should be dressing me and then you can get your own clothes back” Arthur continued, beginning to take off Merlin’s jacket. 

“And what do you suppose the people will think, let alone your father, when they see your body dressed in my clothes, and my body dressed in yours?” Merlin said popping his head out from behind the screen to look at Arthur.

“Oh… right” Arthur said, pulling Merlin’s jacket back on. He couldn’t let people see his body in Merlin’s clothes, that would be absolutely unacceptable, not to mention weird, and it would properly raise some unwanted questions. 

Once Merlin had gotten dressed he began making Arthur’s bed, as Arthur obviously wouldn’t do that. However, in the middle of that process no other than Uther Pendragon walked into the room. He stopped in his tracks upon seeing ‘Arthur’ making his own bed and Merlin lounging in Arthur’s desk chair with his feet on the table and hands behind his head. Merlin, in Arthur's body, seemed to freeze for a second, staring at Uther, before he moved away from the bed and began to stare at Arthur intensely. At that moment Arthur came to his senses as he realized that it was of course only those two who knew that they had swapped bodies. He quickly came to his feet and tried to think of how Merlin would act when in the presence of his father.

“What on earth is going on here!” Uther asked sounding both disbelieving and angry at what he had just witnessed. 

Arthur didn’t know what to say, but he also soon realized that Uther wasn’t so much as glancing in his direction. His full attention was on Merlin, or well on Merlin in Arthur’s body. 

“I lost a bet, father” Merlin said calmly. “Merlin won, and I am therefore making my own bed for the day… it was silly, and out of the way now”. 

Arthur was shocked that Merlin could so easily lie to his King, so easily make up a lie, and sell it so confidently. It made him judgingly suspect that this wasn’t the first time Merlin had so convincingly lied to others - perhaps Merlin had even lied to Arthur like this?

“I see. Doing a servant's chores is unacceptable for a Crown Prince - as you well know! So don’t make such bets again, Arthur! Regardless, I came here to tell you that you must travel to Queen Helaine’s kingdom early tomorrow morning. I just received a letter from her requesting our assistance in…” Uther trailed off, seemingly only at that moment to remember that  _ ‘Merlin’  _ was in the room with them. He looked at  _ ‘Merlin’ _ : “This is confidential, would you leave us for a moment” Uther said sternly to Arthur in Merlin’s body. 

Arthur opened his mouth to say something, but then caught Merlin’s gaze out the corner of his eye… he realized, looking into his own eyes, that were currently Merlins’ eyes on loan, that he had no choice but to agree. Thus he quickly brushed passed his father - who didn’t even spare him a second glance - and left the chambers.

When Uther exited the chambers, a moment later, he completely ignored Arthur and just walked right passed him (how weird that felt… so cold) and Arthur hurried back into the room. 

“What did he say” Arthur asked desperately. 

“Queen Helaine have asked for assistance in forming a peace agreement with King Balin, as Uther is apparently also trying to make a peace agreement with King Balin!?” Merlin half explained, half asked.

“Oh God… That is top secret! No one is supposed to know that yet… it can’t slip out, do you understand!? These peace treaties are highly sensitive, especially these days. If they go wrong with King Balin, he  _ will  _ be declaring war with Camelot” Arthur said, feeling the weight of responsibility beginning to form on his shoulders.

This was the biggest duty Uther had ever placed in Arthur’s hands. Uther was handling the negotiations with King Balin, Arthur knew that, but if he wanted Arthur to handle the assistance of Queen Helaine’s negotiations with King Balin he really couldn’t mess that up. That could also result in serious consequences for Camelot.

“I understand!” Merlin said. “I won’t let what Uther told me leave this room” Merlin promised Arthur. Then continued to tell Arthur what had been said.

“Uther believes you can handle it! He wishes you go to Queen Helaine’s kingdom tomorrow, as you heard, and sort everything out within this week. He said that the agreement with King Balin is almost over and believes that you can easily sort things out with Queen Helaine within a few days” 

“How…” Arthur said, sitting down in the nearest chair feeling overwhelmed. 

“Arthur, you are capable of more than you know. You understand how these things work by now, you are excellent at negotiations and you carry a way about you that makes it easy for people to see and feel that they can trust you. You can and will be able to handle this, I believe in you!” Merlin said quite seriously. 

“Thank you Merlin! It's wonderful to hear you say that... but that is surprisingly not what I’m worried about at this exact moment. What does worry me, however, is how I am supposed to do anything when I’m trapped in your body”

“Oh… right! That” Merlin said, scratching the back of his neck.

“Yeah… That” Arthur said, his hands folded in his lap and his eyes fixated on the floor. He had no idea what they were supposed to do, he felt lost in that moment.

“I’ve got it. Let me talk to Gaius… Maybe he has a solution” Merlin said. Finally presenting them with a plan.

“You’re right, I’ll come with you”

“NO!” Merlin exclaimed, quickly putting his hand on Arthur’s, or well ‘ _ his own _ ’ chest, to stop Arthur from following him. “I… uh, I mean, at this time of the day people would expect me to be collecting you breakfast, for then to clean your clothes and so on…”

“So…?” Arthur said shrugging his shoulders.

“So… If I'm at the very least aren't collecting your breakfast, people will think something’s off” Merlin looked like he really meant it, especially with the way he was still holding Arthur in place with his hand on his chest. 

“All right… I’ll collect my breakfast from the kitchen and then bring it to Gaius’ workplace. Then we can find a solution together” Arthur suggested.

Merlin took another second or two to think, but then agreed to Arthur’s plan, finally lowering his hand. Arthur strongly ignored the feeling of missing the warmth of said hand over his heart. He rubbed his chest, as he walked in the direction of the kitchen, trying to get the lingering feeling of Merlin's hand on his chest to go away. Merlin was walking in the opposite direction as Arthur. Upon looking back after him Arthur just managed to get a glimpse of his own back, as it disappeared around the corner.

Of all the things he had been through in his life... this was definitely going on the top of the list, as one of the absolute weirdest things.


	3. Merlin

Merlin started running as soon as he had turned the first corner of the corridors, out of Arthur's eyesight. He knew he needed to speak to Gaius alone and if he should have any chance of doing so, he had to get there as quickly as possible. He reached the workplace and stormed in yelling Gaius’s name out loud; he was in such a hurry he nearly fell over a stack of books that had been placed in the middle of the floor - ‘ _ arh, I just cleaned everything up’ _ Merlin thought irritatedly, having stomped his foot, then reminded himself that there were more important things at hand. Gaius was reading that book Merlin had helped him find, and was startled at the sudden intrusion and commotion. 

“Ah, sire? What can I help you with?” He said closing the book and getting up from his seat.

“I’m not Arthur… I’m Merlin. I, I think I accidentally made Arthur and myself swap bodies” Merlin said, then scrunched up his face, at how weird it sounded speaking with Arthur's voice.

“I’m not entirely sure what you mean… Arthur?” Gaius replied puzzled and apprehensively. It seemed he didn’t quite believe that what Merlin was telling him was the truth; Understandably enough!

“No it really is  _ me _ , Gaius - me Merlin! I didn’t mean to do it… swap bodies with Arthur that is. But late last night, when I went to bed, I was so frustrated with him - I couldn’t help thinking about how great it would be to play Arthur for a day, and then I remembered that there actually is a spell in that book you gave me -  _ ‘A Collection of Magical spells: Trick Your Friends and Confuse Your Enemies’ _ \- that would allow me to do that. But of course I knew it would be way too risky to actually play around with such a spell, so I pushed the idea out of my mind - or so I thought. I must have somehow used it… Maybe just before I fell asleep or something, because the next thing I know is that I’m being woken up in Arthur’s bed, in Arthur’s body, by  _ myself _ \--- but it was actually Arthur, in my body, who woke me… Oh man, that’s confusing - I really messed up this time didn’t I!?”

“It really is you” Gaius said wide eyed. 

Merlin nodded his head and sat down. His legs felt like jelly at this point fully realizing what a mess he had gotten himself into.

“What am I supposed to do… Arthur will be here any minute expecting me to be asking you how to get us back in our own bodies” Merlin told him.

“Wasn’t there a reversing spell or an undo spell of some sorts in the book?” Gaius asked.

“Yes I believe there was… but how could I use it? I can’t, not without having to give Arthur some kind of explanation? I’m sure he wouldn’t just let it go as though nothing had happened. Not even if I tried pretending that I had no idea either, as to why we would have just switched back, so suddenly and out of the blue… and if I had to explain it to him, that would mean revealing that I have magic; and I just can’t do that. Arh, what am I supposed to do, Gaius?” Merlin said leaning his head back and rubbing his eyes in frustration. 

“Right… no that wouldn’t work” Gaius said and started pacing. Then he suddenly stopped and turned to Merlin looking seriously anxious; “Do you even still have your magic? Now that you are in Arthur’s body… would that have come with you in the swap?”

Merlin felt dread all over, and shivered upon hearing Gaius’s words. He hadn’t thought of that at all, not until just now. Merlin extended his hand immediately and said the spell that would produce a tiny fireball in the palm of his hand. There was a small shimmer but nothing else… Merlin felt sick with alarm, not at the thought that he wouldn’t have his magic in Arthur’s body, but at the thought that perhaps Arthur would be possessing his magic in  _ his _ body.

He stared intensely at his hand, almost holding his breath and said the spell again. This time as commandingly as he could and with as much strength to it as possible. Both him and Gaius let out a breath of relief as a fireball finally appeared. At that moment they heard footsteps and Merlin quickly managed to make the fireball disappear again, and just in time, as Arthur entered the room with a plate of half eaten food in his hand.

“Don’t you ever eat Merlin! I’m starving in this body of yours…” Arthur said with a mouth full of bread and cheese.

Merlin couldn’t help but smile at that. “You’re in charge of my body at the moment, so it’s your job to take care of it. Feed it, dress it...” Merlin listed as he pulled at  _ his  _ shirt, that was hanging halfway ind, halfway out of  _ his  _ pants, on ‘Arthur’; “-and so on. The feeding part you’re doing pretty well already, as I can see. But don’t walk around with my clothes all out of place like some kind of simpleton” Merlin said and stepped away as Arthur batted at his hands trying to sort out Merlin's clothes on his own.

“I can do that myself, thanks… Anyways!” Arthur said, sounding mildly offended and seeming a tad flustered somehow, as he tried to change the subject fast;

“...Can you help us change back, Gaius?”

Gaius looked at Merlin, in Arthur’s body, then at Arthur, in Merlin’s body. It was clear on Gaius’s face that it was indeed strange to see Merlin acting like Arthur and the other way around.

“I’m not entirely sure, sire” Gaius said, his eyes shifting between the two.

“Really!? Please tell me you at least have an idea as to how we can undo this horridness! A ritual of some sort, perhaps? Or an object that washes all spells away? Or a potion-”

“Ah!!! Yes! What about a potion, Gaius” Merlin interrupted excitedly.

“A potion? Yes, perhaps. But I’ll need time to research if there exists such a potion” Gaius said, but he looked hopeful to Merlin.

“Perfect. I’ll help you look, while Merlin makes the preparations for tomorrow's departure” Arthur said, setting down the now empty plate on the nearest table. 

“You’re forgetting one thing” Merlin said crossing his arms. 

“And what’s that” 

“ **You** are Merlin right now! You’re the one who has to make the preparations for tomorrow”

“I can’t do that! That’s not my job” Arthur said sternly.

“No it’s my job, and right now you are ‘ _ me _ ’. So... therefore it becomes your job! I know it’s confusing, but we can’t risk someone seeing  _ you ( _ Merlin said gesturing to himself, in Arthur’s body) doing my (now gesturing to Arthur, in  _ his _ body) chores - so you’ll  **have ** to do it, Arthur”

Arthur’s looked like someone had slapped him across the face. He slowly began to shake his head as he opened and closed his mouth a few times, only barely audible incoherent snippers of words leaving his lips.

“I’ll draw you up a list of everything we’ll need” Merlin said, seeing that it would most definitely be needed. “Then you can get started on packing. And if there’s anything you’re unsure about, you can come back here and ask me - okay?” Merlin said, while quickly writing things down on a piece of parchment that Gaius had handed to him. 

“And what will you do?” Arthur said, finally speaking.

“I’ll help Gaius look for that potion. The quicker we find it the better” Merlin said handing Arthur the list. Not only had he written what Arthur needed to pack, but also where to find everything - he strongly suspected that Arthur had no idea where anything he owned was placed... not after that one time he had left Arthur alone (or well, were dying in the woods) and came back, finding the entire chamber one big mess. 

Luckily Merlin had washed everything the day before, but in the process he had found that a few items of Arthur’s had to be repaired or replaced. Merlin hoped to all things good that Arthur wouldn't ruin anything, (knowing Arthur he just might), and that he would be able to find everything he needed, down at the marketplace. Arthur left the workplace clutching the list to his chest and looking shell-shocked at the fact that he was actually forced to do Merlin’s job.

“Oh gosh, I sincerely hope he doesn’t get my body thrown in the stocks” Merlin said half jokingly, half genuinely worried at the prospects of that. 

“He’ll be fine” Gaius said, “more importantly is, whether there exists a potion that can change the two of you back, or not”

* * *

They searched Gaius workplace together, scanning through every single book they could find. At some point Merlin had had to go to the royal library to collect more research material, as they were about to run out of Gaius’s books. He came up with a lie as to why  _ ‘Arthur’  _ was collecting books for Gaius and not  _ ‘Merlin’ _ , and was on his way back when he spotted Arthur in the courtyard. He was returning from the market, his hands full. His hair was sticking out to all sides and sweat was dripping down his face. He looked miserable. There was a small part of Merlin that almost felt sorry for him, but a much bigger part of him that couldn’t help but thoroughly enjoy what he was seeing. He entered Gaius’s workplace with a huge smile on his face.

“Have you already found a potion?” Gaius asked.

“Oh, no… But I’ve just seen Arthur. Not enjoying the swap as much as I am, it would seem” he said and at that it seemed not even Gaius could help but to laugh.

Once they began reading through the new books Merlin had brought them, Arthur walked through the door, panting. 

“I think I’ve done everything that was on the list, now… so, can I go to sleep already?” he said, genuinely looking like he might pass out. 

Merlin was actually surprised that Arthur was this exhausted, at least this soon. Yes, it was already mid-afternoon by now and yes, he had spent the entire morning on packing, repolishing, repairing, plus, been down to the market to replace everything that was too worn out, and yes, they were all chores he had never had to deal with before. Nevertheless, Merlin hadn’t expected him to give up the whole ‘being able to do everything you do in half the time’ thing this quickly. Arthur spent most days engaged in quite tough combat training, so Merlin had thought that Arthur would at least have pretended that Merlins’ chores couldn’t be that tiring. Then again, Arthur wasn’t currently _in_ his own body, he wasn't currently in possession of those muscles that he had trained for years to earn, and Merlin remembered just how exhausted his body had been, after doing all of those tasks that Arthur had put him to, the day before. Thinking about that, Merlin realized that Arthur was experiencing his exhaustion from yesterday _on top of_ having to prepare everything, for their departure, today - it suddenly made more sense as to why Arthur wasn’t even pretending that he wasn’t tired.

Merlin therefore decided not to tease him about it, and instead told him to take a break before he was going to give him the next list of chores.

Once Arthur had had a moment to sit down Merlin handed him the next list.

“Prepare the horses? But we’re not leaving until tomorrow morning, and HOPEFULLY we have swapped back by then… so you’ll do that” Arthur said, trying to hand the list back to Merlin. 

“Read the list properly, Arthur… You need to check that all the gear is intact, that nothing needs repairing in that department - and if it does, repair it - plus, you need to wash and brush the horses today - I won't have time for that tomorrow morning” Merlin said pushing Arthur’s hand, with the list, back towards himself.

“Oh… I see” Arthur said sounding utterly dejected. He left Gaius’s workplace without further objections, leaving Merlin and Gaius to continue looking for a potion.

* * *

“Here… wouldn’t this work?” Merlin exclaimed hopefully, handing the book he was reading to Gaius. The evening were creeping in on them at this point and they were running out of time. Merlin was therefore very relieved when Gaius slowly began to nod, as he was carefully reading through the instructions.

“Yes I believe this could work” Gaius said, as he got up. He began to look through his storage of herbs and flowers and what not, properly checking if they had everything they’d need.

“Just one problem… I seem to have run out of the  _ Ruta Graveolens _ flower” Gaius stated; “However, it is the last ingredient on the list to go into the potion.” Gaius returned to his work bench with the other ingredients and started preparing to make the potion, saying; “It might work if I make the potion for you now, so that you can take it with you tomorrow. You can find the flower on your way and add it then -  _ Ruta Graveolens _ grows in damp areas of the forest floor, it’s pretty common, but you must convince Arthur to take the northern route. It will be more likely for you to find it on that passage” Gaius said setting everything up now.

“That’s longer than the southern route… Arthur won’t be too happy about that” Merlin answered, “but if that’s what's needed, in order for us to make the potion work… he properly won’t object” he finished and joined Gaius at the bench to assist him.

“Perhaps not, especially as you don’t have much choice” Gaius said, “the thing is Merlin, as you add this flower, you’ll need to use a spell to enhance the potion - read here - without it, the potion will just be a simple remedy for headaches and muscle pain” Gaius explains as Merlin reads the part of the instructions that Gaius pointed to. 

“I see… It’s a simple enough spell. I’ll just have to think of some way to use it without Arthur noticing… done that plenty of times before. Shouldn’t be too difficult” 

“Let’s hope so… just promise me you’ll be careful” 

Merlin promised him and they began making the potion.

By the time they finished the potion, they heard footsteps approaching. It was Arthur, who finally returned from (hopefully) having finished the last of the preparations for their departure. Gaius and Merlin were taken aback by the state in which he had returned. Arthur, who was standing in the doorway, were soaking wet, with straws of hay and what was hopefully mud in his hair, and on his clothes. He looked small, tired and slightly like a tiny little drenched mouse.

“What happened?” Merlin asked shocked.

“Just had a slight problem with washing the horses… Apparently Duke doesn't like getting wet, and Blue isn’t fond of getting brushed on his hind legs, so...” Arthur explained, trailing off. A pool of water was beginning to form around his feet, on the floor, where he was standing. He looked utterly defeated.

“Oh Arthur, I-I don’t know what to say” Merlin admitted. He wanted to laugh, but at the same time he also wanted to hug him and tell him that everything was going to be okay. He looked so vulnerable.

“Tell me you have a potion to change us back” Arthur said desperately. He had taken a step in and closed the door behind him, which he was now leaning up against, his head thrown back against it.

“Yes, and no… We do have a potion, but… we’re missing one ingredient” Merlin told him.

“What does that mean?”

“It means that you’ll have to stay in my body for just a little while longer…”

“How much longer” Arthur said, looking close to tears almost. 

“Till tomorrow evening perhaps… it depends on how quickly we find the  _ Ruta Graveolens _ flower. We need it’s leaves added to the potion before it’ll work” Merlin explained.

Arthur groaned and sank to a sitting position against the door, and put his head in his hands. 

“It’s just one more day. We can survive another 24 hours of this… it’s not the end of the world” Merlin said, trying to sound reassuring.

“That depends… will it be another 24 hours of what I’ve just been through today?” Arthur asked looking up at Merlin.

“No… you only need to pack the things you - or well the things I’ll be needing - on this trip, and then tack up the horses”

“MORE PACKING!” Arthur exclaimed horrified.

“Okay, okay… how about you go prepare your bathtub and collect your dinner and then I pack  _ my  _ things?” Merlin suggested to which Arthur simply nodded and mumbled a 'thanks' under his breath, before he left dragging his feet as he went.

“Oh my gosh” Merlin said looking at Gaius and they both burst out laughing.

About half an hour later Merlin and Arthur were eating together as they, despite Arthur’s exhaustion, had to discuss the travel arrangements and come up with a plan as to how they would find the flower for the potion. They wouldn’t be travelling alone on such an important and soon to be official mission, so they had to strategize how they’d go about collecting it, when the time comes.

Once they had finished eating and making plans, Arthur got up to stack the plates. Merlin was shocked that he didn’t have to tell him to do so (as he normally would be taking them down to the kitchen at this time). But Merlin stopped him by grabbing his wrist.

“Don’t do that now… you’re exhausted. Take them down tomorrow” Merlin said and Arthur looked at him gratefully as he set the plates down again.

“Then I’ll leave you to take your bath… I’m so tired, I’ll just go to bed now” Arthur said, and rubbed his eyes with his free hand.

“The bath’s not for me, Arthur. I’m not the one who’s soaking wet and covered in straw” Merlin said while getting up and pulling Arthur towards the screen. 

“I’m too tired to wash, Merlin” Arthur wined, “I’ll wash tomorrow… promise” he said while he was literally swaying on the spot. Merlin pulled him behind the screen and reached out to untie his neckerchief around ‘ _ Arthur’s _ ’ neck.

Arthur seemed half asleep and didn’t seem to catch on to what was happening, he just stood there, his eyes half closed.

“Oh no you don’t. You’re  **not** going to sleep in  **my** bed while drenched in the horses’ dirty bathwater, with straws and dirt all over. I won’t demand that you wash my clothes today or even tomorrow - I’ll wash them when we return - but I am demanding that you get cleaned up and changed into something dry. I won’t have you giving me a cold!” Merlin said, trying to get Arthur to wake up a little by shaking him gently.

“I can’t, Merlin, I really can’t! I don’t even think I can lift my arms… and I’m practically falling asleep standing up here… I’ll probably end up falling asleep in the bath and drown” Arthur said, in a whiny voice.

Merlin half expected him to object to be sleeping in  _ his _ bed, instead of Arthur's own soft one - but with Arthur trying to clean out the plates on his own... Merlin figured he had caught on to needing to do whatever  _ Merlin _ would normally be doing, as to not attract suspicion.

“Alright, then" Merlin said, "Then I’ll just have to wash you myself… or wash me - well, it is my body... So I’ll just have to wash it myself then” Merlin proclaimed determined, as he proceeded to undoing the laces on  _ his  _ shirt and  _ his  _ pants, beginning to undress Arthur.

  
Arthur seemed to wake up a little at that… he stared at Merlin and his lips parted slightly as if he wanted to say something. However, nothing but a small, and barely audible, strangled sound, at the back of Arthur’s throat, came out. So Merlin just carried on pulling  _ his  _ shirt over Arthur’s head… 


	4. Arthur

Being undressed by Merlin was nothing new. That happens twice on a daily basis. But getting washed by Merlin… that never happened - why would it?

So the fact that Merlin was currently pulling off his clothes with the intention of bathing him was making his head spin! And not due to fatigue.

Arthur tried hard to keep calm, pretending that it was quite normal for someone to decide to bathe you, when you were too tired to do it yourself. But on the inside he wasn’t sure how to feel. On one hand he tried desperately to tell himself that it was no big deal, on the other his heart was beating faster and his cheeks felt hot. 

‘ _ Why the hell am I so nervous…? It’s only Merlin for God's sake _ ’ Arthur thought, arduously trying to keep up the facade that Merlin had no effect on him whatsoever.

Arthur accepted Merlin’s outstretched hand for support, getting into the tub. All his senses were on high alert, but his body was still as heavy with fatigue as it was before Merlin’s suggestion, so he didn’t have much choice. Arthur lowered himself into the water sighing at how good the warm water felt on his skin. He couldn’t help but to lean back and close his eyes. Arthur tried not to make a sound (and miraculously succeeded) as he felt Merlin’s hand slide over his chest with a warm wet cloth. Arthur kept his eyes closed, as Merlin continued to wash the dirt off of his body and face. It felt good. Merlin was gentle and careful and it made Arthur let out a sigh of contentment. He didn’t mean to, it just slipped out, and right now Arthur didn't really care. 

Arthur opened his eyes when Merlin’s touch disappeared, he had hung the cloth on the bathtub and was collecting a jug and some soap.

“Lean forward so that I can wet your hair” Merlin said, and Arthur did as he asked. He poured water over Arthur’s hair, then he rubbed his fingers through it as he poured yet another jug of water over his head. Merlin proceeded to picking out the straws from Arthur’s hair, the ones that wouldn’t be washed out on their own. After that Merlin poured soap into his hand and started massaging it into Arthur’s hair.

Somehow it didn’t feel as weird and awkward as Arthur had expected it to. In fact, the atmosphere was so calm and pleasant that it made Arthur feel completely at ease. He leaned back into Merlin’s touch and hummed as the man behind him massaged his skull. When Merlin gestured for Arthur to lean forward again, so that he could rinse the soap out, Arthur found himself wishing that Merlin’s ministrations would had lasted longer.

Merlin ran his fingers through Arthur’s hair again, making sure all the dirt and all the soap was washed out, before he let Arthur lean back. 

“You’ll have to wear some of your own clothes when going back to my room… but you can just bring them back up here again tomorrow, right” Merlin said packing the bath supplies away again. 

“Yes, of course,” Arthur said. He was surprised to hear how low and groggy his voice suddenly sounded. 

He stood up as Merlin came back to the tub with the drying cloth. He needed to hold on to Merlin again as he got out, so that his legs wouldn’t buckle under him. Arthur looked at Merlin in wonderment, as the man began to dry him off as well. Merlin’s eyes were fixed on his efforts as he rubbed Arthur’s arms, and chest, and stomach, to get his skin dry again. He proceeded to walk around Arthur and started drying the back of his neck, over his shoulder blades, and down his back, as well. He then went back to facing Arthur as he began to dry his hair.

All the while Arthur just stood still, letting Merlin do what it was he was doing. They didn’t speak and the silence was somehow comforting. Then Merlin seemed to stop in his tracks; simply staring at Arthur’s chest now, with the drying cloth clutched in his hands.

“Thank you Merlin!” Arthur said and grabbed onto the cloth, grabbing onto Merlin’s hand in the process. “Thank you for… helping me out today”

Merlin finally looked Arthur in the eyes - it was the first time he’d done that, since Arthur had gotten into the tub, he realized. Arthur noticed that Merlin’s cheeks were the slightest shade of pink and his pupils wider than pupils normally were.

“I can do the rest now… If you’ll just find me something to wear” Arthur said, ignoring what he had just observed. After all, he could simply be seeing what he wanted to see. 

Merlin nodded and went over to the wardrobe, as Arthur went behind the screen to finish drying of the lower part of his -  _ Merlin’s  _ \- body. He did it fast and quickly as he, for the first time was aware enough to feel shy and embarrassed about seeing and touching Merlin’s body, while completely naked.

_ ‘He’s bigger than I’d thought he’d be’ _

_ ‘Wait, What! … What the hell am I thinking’ _

Arthur quickly pulled on the trousers, that Merlin had handed him, and then the shirt. Being clothed help him to stop his brain from having inappropriate thoughts. He couldn’t think such things about his manservant - hadn’t needed to know how Merlin looked with no clothes on - but now that he did know, he groaned at the realization that he’d never get the images out of his mind again.

“Can I wait with emptying out the tub till tomorrow too” Arthur asked, reemerging from behind the screen. 

“Yes, of course you can” Merlin said. He stood in the middle of the room, looking like he didn’t quite know what to do with himself.

The atmosphere had changed suddenly. It was awkward now. Arthur wondered how it could have changed so quickly. When he had been naked, been bathed by Merlin, the other man’s hands softly touching almost all over his body… they’d somehow been at ease - both of them - and now they could barely look at each other.

“I’ll be going to bed now then,” Arthur said but made no attempt at moving towards the door.

“Yeah, uh, me too” Merlin seemed to wake up at that and went back to the wardrobe again, probably looking for a night shirt to wear to bed. 

“I packed them all… There were only 2 left that didn’t need repairing. Perhaps you can sleep in one of my casual shirts instead?” Arthur suggested.

“Oh… sorry about that. I’ll get around to them when we get back” Merlin said looking genuinely apologetic. 

“Don’t worry about it… Given our current situation, I’m ‘surprisingly’ not that bothered about my night shirts right now” Arthur joked and they finally laughed together, at that. It felt like they hadn’t laughed for days at that point, and it was therefore the best feeling to be laughing now.

“I’ll see you tomorrow~” Arthur said, smiling at Merlin as he finally left the chambers.

* * *

Arthur turned over in Merlin’s bed sighing in annoyance. It’d been almost an hour since he got into bed and he was still not asleep. Instead his mind seemed to think that it was more important to recall the feeling of Merlin’s hands on his chest, his stomach, his lower back. The way he had kept his eyes so firmly at what his hands were doing, instead of looking at Arthur’s face during the process. 

Arthur curled in on himself as his brain flashed images of Merlin’s naked body across his mind - the way his skin had tingled as he had rubbed the water off of his legs, ass, and a very certain private part, with the cloth. 

‘ _ This isn’t happening _ ’ Arthur thought in alarm as he felt his -  _ Merlin’s  _ \- dick getting hard. ‘ _ This simply can’t happen _ ’. Arthur was getting slightly angry at himself. He just couldn't find Merlin attractive! 

Not because Merlin was a man, nor because Merlin was his manservant… but because he was  ** _in_ ** Merlin’s body right now.

Arthur decided to stop pretending that he hadn’t always found Merlin to be attractive… but he honestly couldn’t believe that he was actually getting hard right now, just thinking about Merlin’s body, while he was  ** _IN _ ** Merlin’s body. It felt wrong - like he was contravening Merlin somehow. His mind was running wild with inappropriate thoughts, and he couldn’t stop his mind from producing images of Merlin’s naked body.

He tried… He really did try to make his mind stop and strongly tried to will the erection to go away - but it wasn’t working and simply grew more and more painful instead.

Arhur groaned in defeat, throwing his left arm over his face, covering his eyes, as his right hand slowly slid down his stomach, lower and lower until his fingers were closing around his -  _ Merlin’s  _ \- cock. 

Arthur sighed out in relief at the contact. For a moment he lamely did nothing but holding the member in his hand, breathing heavily. Arthur was scared of continuing - scared of how much he already knew he’d like it, scared of what that meant, and scared that Merlin would somehow find out that he jerked (“him”) off in his body.

Soon though, he started stroking himself, slowly at first, testing the waters. A moan escaped his lips involuntarily, and it made his dick twitch in his hand… his voice wasn’t his voice… it was Merlin’s of course - and the way that voice sounded right now, was such a turn on. It was so deep and sexy and Arthur couldn't help but to pick up his pace so that he could hear that sound again.

Arthur let his thumb brush over the head of the cock and it made his entire body shudder. He reluctantly realized that he had to bite his lips. He badly wanted to keep listening to how desperate his moans - in Merlin’s voice - were becoming. But he was also aware enough to face the fact that he couldn’t risk someone hearing him. 

Arthur wasn’t thinking, he was driven by desire and pleasure, when he sat up pulling the covers aside. He leaned back against the headboard, pulling his trousers down far enough so that he could get a good view, as he looked down to see his own ministrations. His - _Merlin’s_ \- cock were leaking with precum, the head red and the shaft curving up against his abdomen. Arthur let out a moan just at the sight. He let his legs fall apart, his fingers wrapping around the shaft again, starting to stroke anew. His other hand reached down to fondle his balls and at that Arthur had to throw his head back and bite his lower lip again. It was so, so good and way too much, all at the same time. He was already so close, his body shivering and his hips buckling. Arthur let his gaze fall forward again, and his eyes fell on his face in the mirror by the door. Before he could even registered anything - shock, embarrassment, shame, desire, want, lust, or fascination - he came.

He came hard! Cum spilling out over his hand and up his stomach. He had to let his left arm fly up so that he could bite onto something, anything, to keep quiet. All the while staring into the eyes of the man he pretended he didn't have feelings for, as he stroked himself through his orgasm.

Seeing Merlin’s face, seeing the eyes hooded and full of lust, had done the trick - but now that he had finished, panting, his right hand falling away from stroking his dick, he felt embarrassed, and guilty.

He had just jerked off in Merlin’s body. He had just made himself come  _ while _ thinking of, and looking at, Merlin’s body. He had just reached his climax due to simply having looked at Merlin’s face!

How could he had let himself do that?!?!

Arthur grabbed the nearest piece of cloth and cleaned himself off, making sure that he didn’t look in the mirror again. He couldn’t face Merlin’s face after what he had just done; at least not yet. Arthur laid back down and curled in on himself, hugging his knees. “What have I done” Arthur whispered to himself. It had felt amazing… so fucking amazing! At least up until the point he had finished, and had had to face his actions.

He knew he’d never forget the way Merlin’s face had looked in that mirror, as he came. He knew he’d never forget how fucking amazing Merlin’s voice sounded when he moaned; and he knew now, that he wouldn’t be able to deny for any longer, that he of course was much more than just attracted to Merlin. Not after this… 

Arthur cursed himself for having lost control, for admitting to himself how much he’d wanted to do that for months… maybe even years… (just under different circumstances, of course); but mostly, he cursed himself for just how much he was enjoying how good the after-buzz of having jerked off,  _ in Merlin’s body _ , felt, at that moment.

* * *

Arthur woke up the next day to Gaius shaking him awake.

“It’s time to wake up and get dressed, sire,” he said and presented him with a tray full of food. He placed it on the side table and left Arthur to wake up in peace.

Arthur rubbed his eyes and sat up. His head was heavy and his mind groggy with sleep. It took him a second to remember that he was in Merlin’s body, but then the events of yesterday soon came back to him. ALL of them.

Arthur was glad that Gauis had left the room again, as his cheeks burned at the memories of last night. He shook his head and got up to get dressed. He remembered promising himself, as he was falling asleep, that he’d pretend it hadn’t happened. His attempt at making it possible for him to leave the room and face the world - face Merlin. 

He pulled on a pair of clean trousers and a clean shirt. He then took the tray of food with him out to the main room where Gaius was eating his breakfast. 

“I’m thinking Merlin doesn't get to eat breakfast in bed… I’d better continue doing what Merlin would normally do, as long as I’m stuck like this” He said and joined an astonished Gaius at the table.

Once they had eaten, Arthur made his way to the kitchen to collect his breakfast to bring to Merlin. It felt weird for Arthur to be doing Merlin’s chores without having to be told to do them first. But he had to agree with Merlin, that it would be best for both of them to make sure that no one would notice that something was different; Arthur was therefore determined to complete Merlin’s tasks today without complaining or objecting to them - like he’d done the day before.

Arthur entered his chambers without knocking and found that Merlin was still fast asleep in his bed. It was still bizarre to look at yourself from the outside. It still made Arthur feel uneasy. He couldn’t wait till they would find that flower, so that they could turn back.

“Time to wake up…  _ Sire _ ” Arthur said pulling the curtains apart. It almost physically hurt him to use that title when addressing Merlin - the word would barely make its way past his lips.

“Did you just call me ‘sire’?” Merlin also responded in complete disbelief. He rubbed his eyes and stretched, trying to wake up.

“Unfortunately yes… I know I won’t remember to call you ‘Arthur’, and I can’t really call you  _ Merlin _ , now can I. So the solution would be to try and make it possible for me to call you…  _ Sire”  _ Arthur explained, struggling yet again with using that title on Merlin.

“Right, yeah… that would be better than you calling me ‘Merlin’, while I’m in your body” He said sitting up. “Should I be calling you ‘Idiot’ then?” He asked, a glint of amusement in his eyes. 

“Why on earth would you call me that!”

“Well… because you call me ‘Idiot’ all the time”

“I do not” Arthur protested, but thinking about it, he knew Merlin was telling the truth. 

“I’ll be careful to remember to call you ‘Merlin’. So don’t worry, I won’t insult you - while I can” Merlin said getting out of bed to change.

“It’s not like being  _ you _ stopped you from doing that before, though” Arthur judgingly said as he sat down at the table; Arthur heard Merlin chuckle at that, and it made him smile. 

* * *

Before long Arthur and Merlin were riding out of the town gate, in the company of Leon, Gwaine, Percival, and Elyan. Arthur was finding it hard not to be giving out instructions and directions, or to not be riding in the lead, but he did his best not to let it show.

While Arthur was at the stables preparing the horses, Uther had called, well  _ him _ , to a meeting with the council. Of course it had been Merlin who had gone to said meeting instead, and Arthur hadn’t had the chance to ask him what it had been about yet ,and it was frustrating him immensely right now.

Arthur clutched at his saddle bag ever so often as they rode on. He was feeling for the two flasks of potion that Gaius had handed him upon taking his leave. It calmed him to make sure that they were still where they were supposed to be, and it gave him something to focus on, other than the fact that he was forced to simply follow suit, without having any say in the matter.

Merlin had luckily had the time to tell Arthur, the night before, that they needed to take the northbound route, so he wasn’t surprised when Merlin led them in that direction; the knights, however, halted their horses in confusion upon being led that way.

“Arthur, where’re you going…? It’ll take us an extra day to go that way” Sir Leon questioned.

Their pause gave Arthur the chance to ride up alongside Merlin, pulling the pack horse, he was in charge of, with him. 

“Yes that is true, but it also provides us with coverage and isolation. My father instructed me not to draw attention to ourselves. Therefore the northern route is ideal for us” Merlin told them and rode on shouting ‘come along’. He did so without checking if the knights had other questions or objections and without making sure that they were following, simply expecting them to obey, true Arthur-style.

Arthur was both impressed and annoyed at how well Merlin managed to act like he would; As it was slightly unnerving to see Merlin so at ease in a position of authority.

“What did my father and the council want?” Arthur finally managed to ask in a hushed voice, as they’d come out of earshot from the others. 

“Don’t worry, they simply wished to make sure that everything was ready for the negotiations with and assistance of Queen Helaine and to refresh the chosen strategy for these treaties - but I handled it” Merlin told him. 

Arthur sighed out in relief.

“Good! Now all that is left for you to do is to find that flower and make the potion work, so I can go back to being me again…” Arthur said, not thinking about how self centered that sounded.

“So that  **we** can go back to being ourselves again, you mean” Merlin also responded in a stern voice.

“Yeah sure… but you do realize that it is more important that  **I ** become  **me ** again. I am the Crown Prince after all, and I can’t handle the risk of you getting me into trouble for much longer now” Arthur said. He wasn’t totally oblivious to how rude and arrogant that sounded - but he felt that that would have been how he would have normally spoken to Merlin, had they not been in the situation that they were in. It was Arthur’s insensitive way of trying to make things go back to the way they were before… before he had been so stupid as to lose control the way he did last night.

“I’m not a complete idiot, you know. I  _ can _ manage to be you for long enough to save my own skin at least” Merlin said sounding hurt.

“What on earth’s that supposed to mean?” Arthur said in an offended voice. But truth be told, he already felt bad that he’d spoken in that way. 

“It means… that if someone were to find out and tell Uther, that we have switched bodies that is, then just  **who** do you think he would hold responsible first, huh…! It would be my neck on the line, Arthur! Not yours… So trust me! I’m just as desperate at getting a hold of that flower as you are!” Merlin said and quickly urged his horse to go faster, before Arthur had a chance to respond.

‘ _ Well done, you idiot _ ’ Arthur thought scolding himself, as he watched Merlin ride off ahead of him. Of course Arthur hadn’t been in any real danger, but Merlin  **had** been. It just hadn’t occurred to him before now.

But upon Merlin making him realize just how serious the situation was  _ for him _ , Arthur suddenly felt a mixture of gratitude and immense guilt towards him.

Merlin had freely gone along with taking it upon himself to pretend to be Arthur and to shoulder his responsibilities for as long as they were stuck like this; whereas Arthur had had to have his arm twisted before taking up Merlin’s role. For that he was now very grateful. But more than that, Arthur realized just how naively he had thought that, for Merlin to take on his role, it had simply meant that Merlin would protect his image - when in reality it most likely involved risking Merlin’s life!

Yes, luckily Merlin had only had to attend  _ one _ short meeting with Uther and the council this morning, but had someone discovered that  _ Arthur _ wasn’t  _ Arthur _ at the moment… that meeting could have ended very, very badly.

Arthur therefore felt incredibly guilty now, at not having realised earlier, just how big a risk Merlin had taken for him - and felt incredibly studip about how he had done nothing but moan and complain due to having had to do just  _ a few hours _ of servant labour, in Merlin’s place.

x

  
Just before nightfall they finally reached a clearing in the woods and Merlin ordered them to set up camp for the night there. Arthur was eager to get the tent up and the dinner started - the quicker they ate, the quicker the knights would go to sleep; thus the quicker him and Merlin could sneak off to look for that  _ Ruta Graveolens _ flower…


	5. Merlin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Wendan ongean" is a spell Merlin will use and it means 'Change back' in old English. If anyone's interested~

Arthur was struggling with the tent, he couldn't get it straight. He struggled with it for a good 5 to 10 minutes before Merlin gave up pretending it wasn't his problem. He walked over and took the tent-string out of Arthur's hand loudly exclaiming:

"For God’s sake! At this rate we'll starve to death… can't you do anything right, Merlin!" However, to Arthur he whispered; "sorry about that… I'll take care of it, just get the dinner started..."

"Thanks" Arthur responded, looking at him gratefully before walking over to collect the cauldron.

Merlin straightened out the tent and filled it with their bags, before sitting down on one of the logs collected for seating around the fire.

Merlin watched as Arthur struggle with preparing the vegetables. He had had no problem getting the fire started, nor getting the water to boil, but watching Arthur trying to dice a potato, was like watching a baby fawn taking its first steps. The knights were eyeing him but said nothing at first, however, as they tasted the soup, that Arthur had made, they all started messing with him, and questioning his behavior.

“What’s this…” Sir Leon said in mild distaste.

“This taste like nothing, and it’s undercooked… are you losing it, Merlin?” Elyan asked.

“Yeah… first the tent, now the soup. Plus, you’ve been unusually quiet all day… You’re not getting ill are you” Gwaine asked.

Arthur looked at Merlin nervously. But Merlin stayed calm.

“I told you you’d catch a fever walking around in those wet clothes yesterday. Did you not change when I asked you to?” Merlin said pretending to be cross. He shot Arthur a look, hoping he would understand that he needed to ‘play along’.

“No… I forgot, sire. Had so much to prepare for this journey” Arthur said, “I do feel a bit hot and besides myself… I supposed I did catch a fever”

“Perhaps a good night's rest will help! Why don’t you clean everything up quickly and go to bed” Merlin said, then continued: "We can't have you passing anything on to us!" hoping that would avoid making the knights suspicious about Arthur actually caring if Merlin got sick, and in the hopes that it would make the knights finish their dinner quickly and go to bed as well. 

Merlin had insisted on taking the first watch and was now just waiting for the knights to fall deep enough asleep for him and Arthur to sneak off. It took awhile before everyone had settled down but eventually Arthur and Merlin were able to leave the camp. 

“So what are we looking for?” Arthur asked in a hushed voice, his eyes scouring the forest floor.

“We are looking for a yellow flower, with long green stems and rounded leaves” Merlin explained, doing the same thing.

They looked for a good thirty to forty minutes, being careful not to miss a single area unturned in the dark. Merlin was about to give up and suggest they tried searching the other side of the camp, when Arthur grabbed his wrist.

“Is that it?” He asked pointing at a slope about three to four meters in front of them. 

Merlin walked over to shine some light on it. He needed to make absolutely sure it was the right flower.

“Yes, this is it! We found it” Merlin said relieved.

Merlin was tired of having to pretend to be Arthur. At first it had been fun watching Arthur run around doing  _ his  _ chores, and yes Merlin admittedly had very much enjoyed watching as Arthur made a fool of himself. But now things were getting serious.

The meeting with the council had reminded Merlin that, him pretending to be the Crown Prince, wasn’t a joke. Having been put in such an official position, as he had been in at that meeting, made Merlin think about what would really happen, should anybody find out that he wasn’t actually Arthur. He realized that, not only was he, himself, in danger of execution for impersonating a nobleman; he was also endangering the kingdom.

Merlin, in no way, found himself capable of handling the assistance of the negotiations in regards to the treaties. Therefore, in no way could he, nor Arthur, keep up this act once they reached Queen Helaine’s kingdom. Arthur needed to be in his own body by then, and if the potion didn’t work, Merlin would also be in danger of having to use magic…

So yeah, Merlin was quite tired of this accident, that he had caused.

“Come on, let's add it to the potion and get changed back!” Arthur said, already turning back towards the camp.

“It’s not that simple”

“What do you mean” Arthur asked sounding horrified as he stopped in his tracks, almost causing Merlin to walk right into him.

“Gaius explained to me, that once the flower is added, the potion needs to rest for at least an hour or so. Otherwise the potion won’t work” Merlin said, hoping Arthur would buy it. Merlin needed time alone, to use the spell that actually made the potion work, without Arthur seeing it. 

“Oh, is that all. I thought you were going to tell me that we needed to spend another day, stuck like this” Arthur said looking relieved that it would only be for a few more hours or so. 

“No, no… if all goes well, we’ll be back to our normal selves tomorrow morning” Merlin promised him.

They returned to the camp and Merlin managed to convince Arthur to go and lay down for awhile. He claimed that he would finish his watch while the potion was resting anyways, and Arthur luckily didn’t have any objections to that. Once a good half an hour had passed and everything had quieted down again, Merlin walked a few meters away from the camp and turned his back to it.

“Wendan ongean" Merlin whispered holding the potions, with the now added flower, in front of him. His eyes flashed golden and the potion started bubbling briefly, before settling down changing from a greenish dark mush, into a clear blue liquid.

Merlin had a good feeling that it had worked and therefore happily waited the additional half hour before waking up Leon to take over the watch.

* * *

When Merlin entered the tent he found that Arthur was asleep. He was shaking due to the cold, his breath visible in the air. 

“Arthur, wake up” Merlin said shaking him.

“Wh-What’s the matter” He asked, teeth clanging as he tried to wrap the bedcover closer around himself.

“Nothing, it’s just - the potions… Why are you only sleeping under a thin cover?!!” Merlin blurted out, interrupting himself. 

“I-I forgot to p-pack the lambskin blankets” Arthur said wrapping his arms around himself for warmth. 

“Didn’t you pack the woolen undergarments then?”

“I… What?”

“Oh Arthur… we’ll freeze to death” Merlin said putting his head in his hands.

“I’m sorry… I forgot. I’m sorry, Merlin!” Arthur said, looking small sat there trying to rub some warmth into his own body.

It was so strange hearing Arthur actually apologizing to him, calling him ‘Sir’ and treating him with way more respect than usual.

“No, don’t apologies… I should have made time to check that you had packed everything. It’s my fault” Merlin said, ignoring Arthur's uncharacteristic behavior, taking of Arthur’s thick fur lined jacket, that he was wearing, and wrapped it around Arthur’s shoulders.

Arthur grabbed onto his wrist keeping Merlin from going anywhere.

“No, Merlin. I really am sorry!” Arthur began, holding up his other hand to silence Merlin as he went to open his mouth.

“When we switched, all that worried me was you making a fool out of me. Never once did I consider the danger you would be in, had anybody discovered that you weren’t me. I constantly scold you, yell at you, and call you an idiot… I always ask too much of you and never have you ever actually let me down”

“Arthur…” Merlin said trying to interrupt him.

“No, Merlin! I need you to know that I’m sorry… I call you lazy and incompetent - I have your job for one day and...”

“Arthur stop! It’s - it’s okay. Let’s just drink the potion and turn back to ourselves again. I can’t stand being the Crown Prince any longer. The weight of responsibility you have on your shoulders are crushing me” Merlin said, “I’d much rather have you yelling at me and calling me an idiot, than having to deal with peace treaties or possible war...” Merlin interrupted, giving Arthur a crooked smile.

Arthur let go of his wrists and smiled back at him upon hearing that; “Then hand me that potion, please” Arthur said reaching out his hand, accepting the potion Merlin handed him.

They both drank the potion at the same time, sitting across from each other on the mattresses. Merlin swallowed the liquid and looked at Arthur. For a second nothing happened, and Merlin felt scared that it hadn’t worked. Then he suddenly felt as if he was flying up into the air - weightless - before he was falling, out of control. Merlin squeezed his eyes shut, not liking the feeling of falling, then he felt as though he landed, his arms, legs and head felt heavy - he was no longer weightless - Merlin blinked and slowly opened his eyes again.

He was sitting at the opposite side of the tent now, and he was no longer staring at himself - he was staring at Arthur.

“It worked, oh my gosh! It actually worked, Merlin!” Arthur exclaimed in excitement.

Before Merlin could respond he was pulled into a hug. Arthur’s arms wrapping around him and he felt the air almost being knocked out of him by the strength of those arms, as he was pulled flush against Arthur’s chest. Arthur’s face was now in the crook of his neck and the hug turned from a tight hug of immediate excitement to being tender and warm.

Merlin wasn’t sure what to feel. Merlin actually hadn’t been sure about what to feel, since he idiotically insisted on bathing Arthur the night before. At first it hadn’t meant anything, he was simply determined not to let Arthur catch a cold in his body… but then, as he was washing him and drying him, Merlin had become painfully aware of how intimate his ministrations had been. His heart had started beating faster, and his stomach had filled with butterflies - he had gone straight to bed after Arthur had left, having been too scared to ask himself why his body had reacted in that way.

And now Arthur was hugging him in a tenderly way, his breath ghosting over his skin, at the juncture of his neck, his hands stroking his back, making Merlin's heart and stomach reenact those feelings from last night.

For a brief moment, before he had had time to think, Merlin had leaned into the touch and breathed in the scent of Arthurs hair. Then he came to his senses and pulled back. Not violently, but enough to have Arthur suddenly on his feet, staring down at Merlin for a second, looking panicked, before mumbling something about needing to pee, leaving the tent in haste.

Merlin was left wondering what the hell had just happened. He didn’t want to question why he had leaned into the hug, or why he had smelled Arthur’s hair, but the question was there. To distract himself, Merlin got up and looked through the bags that Arthur had packed - trying to get an idea of what they did have at their disposal. Merlin pulled out his own woolen undergarments, it was lucky that he had packed his own bag. He put them on Arthur’s mattress though, and kept looking to see if he could use some of his other clothes for warmth.

Now wrapped in two sets of clothes and three pairs of socks Merlin laid down to try and get some sleep. Just then Arthur returned to the tent.

“What’s this?” Arthur asked and grabbed Merlin’s woolen undergarments off of his mattress. 

“I don’t know if they’ll fit you, but you could give it a try” Merlin just responded.

“What about you then?” Arthur asked. It sounded like he actually cared about whether Merlin would be cold. ‘ _ That’s new _ ’ Merlin thought to himself.

“Don’t worry about me, I’ll just wear layers… besides, it’s more important that you stay warm, than me avoiding catching a cold” Merlin said, turning his back to Arthur, pretending to give him some privacy - but in truth, Merlin didn’t trust his gaze, at this moment, to stay on Arthur’s face, as he began to undress.

Merlin turned around in surprise as he felt Arthur pushing his mattress up against his, he was making himself comfortable next to Merlin now.

“I feel guilty that you are forced to freeze simply because I didn’t pack properly… If we sleep under the same covers we can share my jacket and cape as blankets as well and keep warm. That way no one has to catch a cold” Arthur said, arranging those items over them, not looking at Merlin.

“Okay…” Merlin heard himself say under his breath, but he didn’t recognize his own voice. Arthur was sharing his covers, jacket, and cape with him, so that Merlin didn’t have to be cold - he was basically sharing a bed with him because he felt bad about a mistake he had made and admitted to it even. Merlin had half a mind to suspect that Arthur hadn’t actually returned to his own body, that someone else had taken control. Arthur was being unusually kind to him - Merlin wasn’t sure what to do or say to that, so he said nothing more and just laid down next to Arthur.

* * *

Merlin woke up in the middle of the night. Arthur was shaking him and talking to him, but he only heard about half of it.

“...shaking so badly you’re keeping me awake!” Arthur finished.

“Oh, sorry… I-I didn’t r-realize” Merlin responded half asleep. Noticing he was shaking, Merlin continued; “...back’s cold”.

“Oh for God’s sake! Come here” Arthur said. 

Merlin then felt Arthur’s arm wrapping around his middle, pulling him flush against Arthur. Merlin let out a small yelp of surprise, but upon feeling Arthur’s warm body pressed up against his, he couldn’t help but to curl into it. The heat was very welcoming, making it possible for Merlin to stop shaking. 

“Better?” Arthur asked him.

“Much” Merlin answered truthfully. His hands were curled up in front of Arthurs chest, his head resting against his shoulder. Merlin was already falling asleep again, the whole scenario feeling like part of a dream. Nevertheless, Merlin was certain he felt Arthur burying his nose in his hair, as he drifted off.

Merlin woke up the next morning feeling warm and content. It wasn’t until he tried to stretch, though, that he realized the warmth was caused by him still being wrapped up tightly in Arthur’s arms. Opening his eyes his gaze fell on Arhur’s chest. His head was still on Arthur’s shoulder, his hands still clutched in front of both of their chests. By now their legs were all tangled together and Arthur’s arms were holding Merlin in a tender embrace - one arm around his shoulders, the other around his middle, Arthur’s hand resting on the small of his back. Merlin looked up, Arthur was still asleep, but he stirred slightly upon Merlin moving. 

Merlin felt conflicted… on the one hand he felt so comfortable in Arthur’s arms, like he somehow belonged there, on the other it felt wrong to be so intimate with the Crown Prince, with Arthur, of all people.

Arthur hummed and hugged Merlin closer in his sleep. Merlin started thinking he should try and get out of his hold before he woke up. He didn’t want to put Arthur in an awkward position - no doubt was he only holding Merlin so tenderly due to being so fast asleep, nothing more. Arthur stirred again and Merlin tried to pull back before Arthur opened his eyes.

“‘Mmm… Merlin” Arthur breathed out and then, before Merlin realized what was happening, he felt Arthur’s lips on his.

Merlin stared, eyes wide, straight ahead not knowing what to do - Arthur was kissing him! Arthur was holding him in a tender embrace, their legs tangled, kissing him…

Arthur pulled back and opened his eyes - it seemed like he only then realized what he had done, because in the next second he was flying backwards, staring back at Merlin, the same level of shock and confusion reflected on his face now. 

At that exact moment Percival interrupted them - he was just making sure, as was his job as the last one on watch, that they were waking up and getting ready. Before Merlin got a chance to say… anything really, Arthur grabbed his jacket and left the tent.

Merlin was in shock. For a good long couple of minutes he could do nothing but sit there, wondering why… Why Arthur had kissed him, why he had hugged him so tenderly all through the night, and why he hadn't minded any of it. 

Even though Arthur had reacted in shock upon realizing what he had done, Merlin knew that Arthur's unconscious impulse had been to kiss  ** _him_ ** … He had said his name just before the kiss, so it wasn't like he'd been dreaming that he'd had some fair maiden in his arms or something. No, Arthur's unconscious mind had hummed out Merlin's name and kissed  ** _him_ ** . 

Merlin was suddenly alarmed by the million questions running through his mind - not ready to find the answer to any of them just yet. He therefore pulled himself off of the mattress and got dressed.

Emerging from the tent, Merlin quickly went about his chores so that he could get started on preparing the breakfast - all the while acting as though nothing had happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm adding this note - hoping you'll read it - to say thank you, to all of you, for the interest you have shown in this fic. Thanks for all the comments and kudos! They really make my day!  
I wish I could reply to all of them - but I start second guessing myself and find that I dont know what to say, other than 'Thank you'!  
Thank you for reading this fic and thanks for supporting it!
> 
> Ps. I don't wish to make this fic too long - if that's a worry to any of you - so I will begin to try and wrap it up real soon - just FYI~


	6. Arthur

Arthur tried not to stare at Merlin - he really did - but ever so often he still caught himself looking in his direction. How could he not? Arthur had woken up this morning finding himself kissing the man and now he was acting as though no such thing had happened. How could Merlin be so… normal? Arthur was freaking out! His heart pounding and hands sweaty. Not only had he been tenderly hugging his manservant all through the night (and how did that happen), but he had also actually kissed him. Arthur was mentally kicking himself for having acted so carelessly.

He should have known better, shouldn’t have pulled Merlin closer to himself in the night. He had admitted to himself that he had a weakness for the other, so he should have known that practically sharing a bed with the man would have led to him slipping up in some way - Arthur just hadn’t expected it to happen so quickly, nor had he expected to slip up in such a fashion.

Arthur ate his breakfast in silence, his mind giving him plenty to think about; like what to tell Merlin for instance… They had yet another night to spend in the tent before they would reach Helaine’s kingdom - so he couldn’t avoid talking to him, could he?

No he definitely couldn't just ignore this incident, no matter how much he wanted to. Arthur felt he owed Merlin an explanation, knew that even if he tried Merlin probably wouldn’t just let it go as though nothing had happened. Sure, he was putting up a very convincing act right now, but as soon as they’d be alone, Arthur just knew Merlin would have questions for him. But when it came to explaining that he had feelings for Merlin, face to face with the man in question... then Arthur would actually much rather fight off a dozen dragons, as it were.

It was bad enough that he was attracted to his manservant, that in itself was immensely improper of him - him being the heir to the throne and all - but on top of that, Merlin was surely so much more than a simple servant to Arthur… So the fact that he had feelings for a friend, well that just made it worse… or maybe that was exactly what made it a problem.

If Merlin had simply been his manservant, he could easily dictate that Merlin had no right to any kind of explanation from him and could merely order him to forget that anything had even happened. However, as Merlin wasn’t just a servant to Arthur, and knowing Merlin’s nature for disobedience, Arthur knew with certainty that he couldn’t get out of it that easily. As he of course was a friend to Arthur, he actually cared about Merlin - about how  _ he  _ felt - so he couldn’t pretend that he didn’t.

This meant Arthur spend the entire day distracted and lost in thought, as they rode on towards their destination. At times his mind took him so far from being present that he didn’t even notice his horse coming to a complete halt… several times throughout the day. He managed to pretend that he was merely listening for bandits or observing tracks in the road, on those occasions, but upon catching Merlin’s eyes, every now and then, he knew that it was only the knights that he was fooling.

Before Arthur knew it evening was upon them and he found himself forced to order his men to set up camp. Arthur had rode on for as long as possible, claiming the closer they got to Helaine’s kingdom the better, leaving less travel for them the following day. But eventually he had to give in, for the sake of giving their horses a rest, if nothing else. Having left it for so long for them all to settle down for the night, meant that the knights were now struggling to pitch up their tents, with nothing but the fire - that Merlin got going for preparing dinner - as their source of light. Arthur did feel a bit bad about it now, but even with a full days riding, leaving him free to collect his thoughts, he still had no clue, whatsoever, for what he should tell Merlin once they were alone. 

“I’ll take the first watch” Arthur therefore declared, once it seemed like everyone was near to finishing their dinner.

“No my lord, tomorrow we’ll reach Queen Helaine’s kingdom. You should get a full night's rest tonight. I can take the first watch” Leon responded.

“Yes sire, you should definitely get a full night’s sleep this night. There is no trouble in dividing the watch between the rest of us” Gwaine chipped in.

Arthur wanted to object, but he knew there was nothing he could say that would make sense as to why Arthur wouldn’t want a full night’s rest the night before reaching their destination. (Though Arthur knew he wouldn’t get much rest anyways… not with the difficult conversation, bound to come, once he’d be alone with Merlin.)

Arthur therefore reluctantly agreed to what Leon and Gwaine said and bid them goodnight, his heart pounding and his stomach in knots as he made his way to his tent.

* * *

Arthur had changed into his nightwear and was sitting in bed once Merlin, after having finished cleaning up and tending to the horses, entered the tent. He stopped in his tracks and they properly locked eyes with each other for what must have been the first time that day.

“I owe you-”

“You don’t have to explain anything if you don’t wish it!” Merlin quickly interrupted Arthur, his eyes slightly wide.

This shocked Arthur. Having been certain that Merlin would have  _ demanded _ an explanation from him, and then instead for him to be delivering that line… Well it completely threw Arthur off.

Actually, thinking about it, it rather riled Arthur up instead.

At the beginning of the day, Arthur could have wished for nothing more than to hear Merlin uttering those words but after having thought long and hard about how to explain himself to Merlin, preparing himself for possibly telling him something near the truth - that he wasn’t entirely sure what it was he was feeling for Merlin, but that he knew that his feelings were more than platonic… that he for some reason very, very much wanted to try and kiss him again, if Merlin would somehow allow him to - so the fact that Merlin was instead telling him that he wasn’t going to demand an explanation at all, that he in fact seemed not to wish to discuss the incident in any way… Well it annoyed Arthur immensely.

“You’re fine with ignoring that I kissed you?” Arthur suddenly heard himself asking, surprising himself by going straight to the point. 

“I…uh” Merlin murmured suddenly not looking at Arthur anymore but staring at the ground instead, his cheeks seemingly taking some colour.

“The fact that I embraced you, held you close all through the night and then woke up by kissing you… That doesn’t raise any questions in your mind?” Arthur continued, the words flying out of his mouth before he could stop them. A small voice in the back of his mind screamed for him to stop, to keep quiet and go along with pretending that it hadn’t happened. But it was too late now.

Why he could so calmly state the facts of the events from that morning, how he could sound so confident upon asking Merlin if he didn’t wish for Arthur to explain to him why they had occurred, Arthur didn’t know.

It was like his annoyance with Merlin’s lack of interest made the words part from his lips on their own accord; As if he found a confidence within himself, spurred on by said annoyance, that he didn’t know he possessed, a confidence that somehow overshadowed his fear of rejection and humiliation.

“Arthur… please” Merlin suddenly pleaded, his voice barely louder than a whisper. 

“What!?” Arthur demanded, his tone filled with irritation. 

“You are putting me in a very awkward position…  _ Sire _ ” Merlin finally answered after an extended pause, putting a lot of emphasis on the title.

Merlin rarely used titles when addressing Arthur, only really used them when he was in some kind of trouble, and in formal situations of course. Arthur only then realized just how uncomfortable Merlin looked, and immediately felt bad. Taking a deep breath Arthur tried to put aside his personal feelings, not wanting to hurt Merlin in any way.

“How so?” He therefore asked, his voice calm and collected now.

“Regardless of your intentions, I, as nothing more than your manservant, have no right to express my own thoughts and feelings on this matter,  _ my lord _ … you are therefore, yet again, carelessly endangering my life,  _ sire _ ” Merlin answered so formally it was making Arthur feel awkward and distant from Merlin.

He was of course right, in some way; Should Merlin offend Arthur, and should Arthur see Merlin as nothing more than a servant, he could easily have Merlin imprisoned, or even executed, to spare himself from humiliation.

Arthur understood then, upon listening to Merlin, that he had given this as much thought as Arthur had. However, to Arthur’s misgivings, it seemed Merlin had come to the conclusion that he could not trust Arthur - was too frightened by the possibility that Arthur wouldn’t like what he had to say - and rather than seeing Arthur as a friend and treating him as such, he was now distancing himself from the other, instead of doing the kind thing; flat out refuse him and make things clear head on.

Arthur felt desolated that Merlin could even think that Arthur would actually value his own pride above Merlin’s  _ life _ !

That he could think that Arthur would simply dismiss him as nothing more than  _ a servant _ , should Arthur not like what was honestly on his mind.

Yes Arthur knew by now that he could be arrogant, egotistical and vain at times - Merlin certainly spend a lot of time reminding him of that anyways - but he could never actually put Merlin’s life on the line, when it really came down to it - Naturally!

Arthur was therefore hurt and disheartened at the fact that Merlin apparently didn’t know that. That he didn’t feel that he could trust Arthur enough to speak his own mind freely, as a friend, especially in this situation!

Wait… Merlin often insults him, disobeys his orders and has often freely spoken his mind, with no regards to the consequences, in the past… So why was this different?

“I thought, deep down, you knew that I would never intentionally endanger you” Arthur began carefully.

“Thought you knew that you are more than just an inconsequential manservant. Because of course you are… so much more! And… when speaking to me, you’re never-never actually in any danger. I’ll  **swear it** , Merlin… when speaking your mind…  _ to me _ … you’ll never have to fear for your actual life!” Arthur said and paused, taking in a deep breath, preparing himself for what he was about to say.

“I am capable of handling you not reciprocating my feelings, without resorting to having you killed, Merlin! I could never… I-I would never… I” Arthur ended up trailing off anyways, losing his confidence upon hearing how vulnerable he suddenly sounded. Nevertheless, Arthur made a conscious effort not to close off completely… not now.

“Your feelings…?” Merlin exclaimed in confusion and disbelief.

“I don’t think I follow…” Merlin continued, sounding less frightened and more confused at least. 

“What don’t you follow…?” Arthur asked, this time finding that it was he who was unable to look at Merlin and was instead staring at his hands, folded in his lap. 

“Please don’t… I don’t know, hit me? But do-do you - do you like me… romantically?” Merlin asked. His voice beginning to tremble and die down to a whisper at the end. 

“What if I do?” Arthur asked in response, holding his breath.

Silence fell. Nothing but the howling wind and the crackling sound of the campfire could be heard in the distance. Eventually Arthur had to force himself to look up at Merlin as there was no response to his question.

Instead of a wide eyed Merlin, frozen in shock, as Arthur had expected to see, his eyes instead fell on a face seemingly folded deeply in thoughts.

“Merlin…?” Arthur questioned carefully.

“Your intentions with me… they-they aren’t purely based on boredom or superficial desire?” Merlin asked looking genuinely surprised that there possibly could be more to Arthur’s actions than that.

“If that is the case… What-what would be your thoughts and feelings on that?” Arthur answered, avoiding Merlin’s question. It was cowardly of him to attempt to coax out Merlin’s opinion on the matter first, instead of just manning up and confessing that, yes his feelings for Merlin are of course more than just friendly, and no they are not superficial… even though he kind of already had admitted that.

However, Arthur couldn't as he, unexpectedly, found that he was now afraid that Merlin would think less of him, for harboring feelings for him… afraid that Merlin would stop being his friend in the fear that Arthur would be incapable of not forcing his feelings upon the other.

Something Arthur would of course never do.

But if the fact that Arthur wanted something more than friendship from Merlin, made the other too uncomfortable, Arthur would understand. He would be devastated… but he would understand and respect Merlin’s feelings.

“I… I think I might--- feel the same way” Merlin timedly answered.

Arthur’s eyes shut up to lock with Merlin’s - Merlin finding it hard to keep eye contact, it would seem, and his cheeks were now definitely tinted with the prettiest faded rosy colour.

“Wait… really!?” Arthur asked in shock and disbelief.

“Would that really be so strange…” Merlin questioned stoically - giving nothing away - now fully returning Arthur’s gaze.

“Strange…? No…”

“Beyond my hopes… Yes…!” Arthur trailed off, unable to keep a smile from slowly forming at the corner of his mouth.

“You’re an idiot!” Merlin exclaimed. “Of course I’d return your feelings, Arthur… didn’t quite know that this morning, but… somehow I… I just…” Merlin spoke, now he being the one to trail off and finding it just as hard as Arthur, it would seem, to really find the right words.

Arthur had half a mind to question why Merlin had thought that he could have been in danger from Arthur, how he could think that Arthur would have put his life on the line. Especially as it turned out that in reality they felt the same way. Then he realized that Merlin might have been frightened  _ because  _ he felt that way.

If the case hadn’t been that they’d both idiotically felt the same, but Merlin had been alone in harboring romantic feelings towards his future King… then, as Arthur could understand it now, Merlin’s fears were completely justified. Arthur felt inconsiderate for not having considered just how horrifying the situation had been from Merlin’s point of view - not knowing where Arthur stood.

“You are right, though,” Arthur began, “I carelessly endangered you yet again, for all you knew… only thinking of myself, my own feelings - like always! For that I’m sorry, Merlin”

“That doesn’t matter now!” Merlin answered. He then kneeled down in front of Arthur and placed his right hand, timidly, on top of Arthur’s.

“...and I do trust you, you know. I was just… this is just so - unusual - so…”

“I know” Arthur answers and quickly leaned forward, capturing Merlin’s lips before the other could move away.

* * *

Leaning back from having placed a small delicate peck on Merlin’s lips, Arthur looked at Merlin questioningly, the other returning his gaze. Without another word Merlin simply cupped Arthur’s face in his hands and kissed him - passionately - as a reply.

It took Arthur’s breath away; he could do nothing but grip onto Merlin’s tunic at his waist and kiss him back with as much passion as Merlin displayed - wanting to do nothing else anyways. Taking a proper hold of Merlin’s waist, Arthur pulled him closer, deepening their kiss, Merlin then grabbed onto his shoulders for support and before Arthur knew it Merlin was sitting in his lap, as they passionately continued to kiss each other, over and over again.

Arthur couldn’t help running his hands down to Merlin’s thighs, squeezing them in his big hands, before running said hands up Merlin’s back to his shoulder blades holding him tighter to his own body - then repeating the action - while experimentally running his tongue over Merlin’s lower lip.

Merlin’s fingers were suddenly running through his hair, gripping at it and pulling his head back. He leaned forward and upwards, his face now slightly above Arthur’s, and then let his tongue slip past Arthur’s lips to meet his. Arthur grabbed onto Merlin’s side to support him - though he was surprised by Merlin’s forwardness, he loving it nonetheless. Their tongue’s mixing in a sensual dance, their bodies flush together, hands everywhere.

Arthur felt so-so much in that moment… his heart pounding, his stomach beginning to fill with butterflies, his desire for Merlin growing, his head spinning from lust and want. He had to pull back for air, everything so overwhelming. Upon leaning back Merlin let his forehead lean onto Arthur’s, breathing heavily, but otherwise made no attempt at getting off of Arthur. Arthur not wanting for him to get off anyways, resorted to holding onto Merlin’s hips, his breath mingling with Merlin’s, displaying just as much breathlessness as the other. 

“Am I in trouble now?” Merlin asked smirking, clearly holding back laughter.

“No” Arthur responded chuckling, “definitely not” he continued, finishing his assurance with a tender kiss. 

“Good! Because I’m afraid I could get used to this” Merlin said, still smirking. 

“Oh, is that so” Arthur responded, smirking back now; sliding his hands up Merlin’s chest, squeezing his shoulders and then… slowly, sliding them back down his front now, over his pecks, down his ribs, settling on his abdomen. Merlin audibly swallowed and bit his lower lip, looking down at Arthur, his cheeks flushed. 

Arthur leaned forward and kissed Merlin’s jaw, just between his chin and right ear. He then mouthed his way to the man in his lap’s earlobe, lightly biting it and sucking it in between his teeth. Arthur didn’t quite know what spurred him to do so, other than curiosity… however, the moan it aroused from Merlin was more than reward enough.

Arthur thought he’d never hear that sound ever again, so the fact that he got to hear it now filled him with a mixture of gratitude… and slight guilt… as the events of how he came about hearing the sound of Merlin moaning in the first place, sprang to mind.

Arthur tried to shake the memory from his mind and instead attempted to focus on how lucky, happy and grateful he was to find himself in this situation, in which Merlin was actually reciprocating his feelings.

Arthur started untying Merlin’s neckerchief, the damned thing getting in his way, tossing it aside, finally able to mouth his way down Merlin’s neck - lightly biting him and sucking on the skin there, as he went on to mouthing at his collarbones; delighted that this only caused Merlin to moan further.

Arthur continued like that for a good while, his hands sliding over Merlin’s body, his mouth attacking almost any freed skin he could get to, kissing, licking and biting at it.

“A-Arthur… slow-slow down” Merlin whimpered breathlessly, clinging onto Arthur’s shoulders, his grip almost painfully tight.

“Sorry… got a little carried away” Arthur answered pulling back and stopping his ministrations. 

“...is alright. Just… moving a little fast” Merlin breathed out, his forehead now leaning against Arthur’s shoulder, his chest heaving.

“You’re right~” Arthur said affectionately, stroking Merlin’s hair out of his face with one hand. He couldn’t help himself from fondly placing a kiss on the other’s temple before continuing; “it’s late anyways and we have a very important day ahead of us tomorrow. We should get some sleep”

“Oh… Arthur, that’s right” Merlin exclaimed, his head raising quickly from Arthur’s shoulder to look at him, “I forgot about that for a minute. I haven’t even had a chance to ask you how you are feeling about all of that” Merlin said worriedly, back to his caring self.

“Never you mind about that now” Arthur responded with a smile, stroking his cheek warmly. “For now, let’s just get some rest, and we can worry about all that tomorrow, yeah?”

Merlin nodded and leaned in to Arthur’s hand on his cheek, looking at him through his long lashes, a hint of a tired smile playing at the corner of his mouth. They shared one last prolonged kiss before Merlin got up to change into his nightwear.

That night they made no pretence that they were cuddled up next to each other purely for warmth. No, instead Arthur had pulled Merlin into his arms immediately as the other had gotten into bed, Merlin responding by happily placing his head on Arthur’s shoulder and entageling their legs, just as they had been the night before. Arthur couldn’t believe anyone could be as happy as he felt in that moment, couldn’t believe he was lucky enough to experience such happiness.

He kissed the top of Merlin’s head and stroked his fingers through the other’s hair as they both drifted off to sleep.


End file.
